Week 11 - Always Trust Your End Stinks!!
Posted By Clay Aiken
April 22, 2012 11:00 PM
Before you jump on me... It is a game. I lost my last one. I have no desire to lose this one too!
Trust me, this week was NOT an easy week for me. The hardest part about being a project manager, as I said last time I did it, is having to single out two people who you might bring back to the Boardroom with you. This week was even tougher for me. We'll get to my thought processes a bit later.
Our task this week was to create in store displays for Mr. Trump's new fragrance, Success, at Macy's. Pretty straightforward.
As luck would have it, I found myself up against Aubrey again. Aubrey is always formidable. In fact, I think her party for Crystal Light would have been superior to ours if we had both attempted to do they same type of cocktail party. She's a smart cookie.
In this task, again, she probably had a bit of the upper hand. However, I had the deck stacked by having a much stronger team for this. Penn is an incredibly creative mind. Lisa is as well and is a helluva worker, and Dayana was the perfect face for the project.
Our process was pretty straightforward, and everyone on Forte did an incredible job of every part of this task. And we turned out a KILLER display. No kidding - that display was stunning. The lightbox/backlit picture of Dayana looked so professionally done that we all believed that we had it in the bag.
If I were a sore loser... if I were bitter... I might say.... That I would never use a slogan for a cologne that had any word in it that sounds like "stinks"!!! Just think of the puns that could be used... Always Trust Your End Stinks! I thought our slogan was MUCH MUCH better... and I might also say... Unanimous won based in large part on their smell card and their take-away brochure. We were told that we were to make an "in-store" display, not marketing materials. Without those marketing materials, our display KILLED theirs. In fact, when the executives walked in the room at first, we could hear them gasp to themselves at how breathtaking it was. I would have done no gasping with Unanimous' display.
But... I'm not bitter!!! And, as evidenced by my history, I am certainly not a sore loser! So... I won't say ANY of that stuff above!!!
Congrats to Aubrey and Unanimous. GLSEN is a GREAT organization that does incredible work and they deserve the $40K!
Plus, those take-away cards were pretty incredible. And Dayana HAD suggested it to me... and I DID make the choice myself NOT to do them. So, shame on me.
So, why in the hell did I bring Dayana back in the Boardroom? I'll let you in on my thought process...
Truthfully, no one did a poor job on Forte. All three of my team members really gave their all. When everyone does a good job - and the project manager makes a sizable error in judgment (no takeaways) - the finger always points to the project manager. So early on in the Boardroom process I knew that I was gonna be in the line of fire. Knowing that, and given only that information, I had to make a strategic decision about who I'd rather have up against me in the final Boardroom.
Fortunately, the Trumps and the executives often give clues as to who should be blamed for a task's failure. In this case it was pretty clear that Penn should be brought back. I like Penn and have a great deal of respect for Penn, but he was pretty much handed to me on a platter to bring back.
That left Dayana and Lisa.
Bear in mind, neither of them really did ANYTHING wrong on this task. Neither of them really deserved to come back.
Lisa may be a loose cannon at times - some may find her hard to work with - but Lisa is STRONG when it comes to creativity, work ethic, and organization.
Dayana is creative as well. Dayana is a hard worker, no doubt. And Dayana is very organized... BUT.... remember, as viewers we all have much more information to base that on than I did at the time. In that moment, I had only seen Dayana in two tasks and had heard everyone else call her a weak player. That information alone was enough for me to believe that moving forward without Dayana would be easier than moving forward without Lisa.
Add to that the fact that Lisa is a fighter. Her arguments in the Boardroom are passionate and they are coherent. Dayana's history in the Boardroom has not shown her to be a strong fighter in the Boardroom.
I didn't wanna go up against Lisa in the Boardroom, because she had done NOTHING wrong and would NOT have been fired for that task. Therefore, the best-case scenario would have been that Lisa and I would not have been fired, but I would have made an enemy of her moving forward. Not smart! Let Lisa go free. Don't poke the sleeping lioness when you have NO weapon against her. Bring Dayana back. She might not go home, but she won't put up as violent a fight. And, she won't hold a grudge about it next week when we have to work together.
Penn being fired was disappointing. He is an incredibly smart guy. While I might not be able to handle any long car trips with him, I respect him a LOT!!!! And he was a REAL asset to the team, who brought up a lot of the idea for which we were celebrated. But when the writing was on the wall, it was kill or be killed. Not something I am used to, but something I learned to do for The Celebrity Apprentice.
Tune in next week to see me finally get to do something closer to my expertise!!! And see if Dayana actually held that grudge against me after all!! Teresa and I will play "peacekeepers" in the MOST EXPLOSIVE episode of the entire season... and only one of us will be successful!! Don't miss it!